Rowitz On Leadership

    In conversations with many public health managers and leaders over the years, I have often been asked about the availability of tools to help them become more effective administrators and collaborators. Administrators often come to workshops and seminars looking for tools, exercises, books and articles, drills and tabletop simulations to add to their toolkit of resources to use in their agencies or with external stakeholders. This article will begin an exploration of tools for public health leaders and managers. This article will be supplemented with a series of tools and exercises that will be posted in a new column in this blog. The Book Club has already been initiated. This club will add a new book each month for leaders to expand their personal knowledge base. The tools page will add new tools and exercises that will add to those discussed in my two books on public health leadership.

    Tools are resources that help leaders carry out the work of public health or other health related endeavors. These tools can be used in multiple ways. For example, a tool can enhance the linear activities of an agency that use tools that follow a number of steps to carry out a such things as a planning process or a specific conflict resolution or negotiation process. For those who feel more comfortable with a systems oriented approach, the tools will need to be modified to address these big picture activities. The tools of a leader might include resources of the following types:

1. Core Functions and Essential Public Health Services
2. Community Assessment Tools
3. Assurance and Program Evaluation Tools
4. Program Development Tools
5. Performance Management Tools
6. National Performance Standards
7. Collaboration Tools
8. Policy and Law Tools
9. Nominal Group Process
10. Idea Mapping Tools
11. Strategic Planning and Action Tools
12. CQI Tools
13. Community Building Tools
14. Creativity and Idea Generation Tools Large Group Process Tools
15. Storytelling Tools and Exercises

I hope that you will comment on specific tools which you find useful. New tools and exercises will be added to the tool page in the future.